The Florida Roundup - The Fight over Amendment 4, early voting and NPAs, PolitiFact checks claims, weekly news briefing

Episode Date: October 26, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with WUSF’s Stephanie Colombini about the legal wrangling over Amendment 4 (08:09) and then we heard from former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court Charles Wells (12:00). We also talked about voter turnout and how to appeal to non-party voters first with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison (19:14) and later the Chair for the Republican Party of Florida Evan Power (26:30). Next, we turned to Samantha Putterman with PolitiFact to check some recent claims around Amendment 4 (31:59). Plus, we took a closer look at Amendments 3, 5, and 2 (37:14) and heard about a unique job posting in one Florida town (47:24).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here this week. You probably are not seeing many campaign ads for the two major candidates running for president. You probably are not getting many text messages or mailers about the tight race for the U.S. Senate. But I'll bet you have been bombarded with ads and videos and flyers and text messages about Amendment 4. This is the ballot question that would add abortion protections to the state constitution if approved by enough voters. Now, even as you are marking your ballot yes or no, the state of Florida and amendment supporters are tangling over efforts by the state to get voters to vote no. Thumb on the scale, a Florida department head is under scrutiny over an official

posting that appears to campaign against the upcoming abortion amendment vote. Florida Democrats are now pushing for criminal prosecution, alleging that a state agency is continuing to try and manipulate voters on Amendment 4. Florida cares about women and families. This is a video paid for by the state's Agency for Healthcare Administration. No woman can go to jail for having an abortion. And abortions are available before a child's heartbeat is detected. Meantime, that agency's now former top lawyer sent a letter to television stations across the state

that broadcast an ad paid for by Floridians Protecting Freedom. That group is in favor of the amendment. When I saw the tumor on the MRI, my first thought was, am I going to be able to see my daughter again? The letters from the state of Florida warned the TV stations to stop airing the ad. They did not. I would lose my baby.

I would lose my life and my daughter would lose her mom. The state said the ad makes claims that are categorically false and puts women's health at risk. The state threatened to criminally prosecute the stations. The group behind the ads sued and a federal judge stepped in. The Florida Department of Health is barred from intimidating local television stations for airing a pro-abortion rights ad. A federal judge sided with stations after the state surgeon general threatened to bring some criminal cha

And then two weeks ago, t of state's office, which elections here in florida of its investigation into used to get the abortion in the first place. The s investigating petitions s to get amendment for on t

The DeSantis administration released a report accusing the organizers behind Florida's abortion amendment of committing fraud. How have these efforts affected your vote? How are you talking about the amendment with others? Call us now live on this Friday, 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Send us a quick email. The address is radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Stephanie Colombini is a reporter with our partner station WUSF in Tampa.

Stephanie, let's start with the state's investigation into petition signatures here. What does the Florida Department of State's Office of Election Crimes and Security claim that it found? Yeah, so just to explain where all this is coming from, you know, in order to get Amendment 4 on the ballot to begin with, the group backing it, Floridians Protecting Freedom, had to get nearly 900,000 petition signatures to qualify. So they said they got more than that. There was a deadline to verify the signatures. That happened, and the Florida Supreme Court months ago cleared this measure to go on the ballot. But the state says it's suspected fraud, and so that's why it had this elections crime department investigate it. And so the department released a 388-page report earlier this month

based on a preliminary audit of petition signatures in three Florida counties. That's Palm Beach, Orange, and Osceola. So preliminary, not final, but in this initial review, it found that about 16% of signatures that had previously been verified turned out to be fraudulent. previously been verified, turned out to be fraudulent. And it claims some petitions were signed on behalf of dead people, contained forgeries or signature misrepresentation, or used personal information without the signer's consent. And so this investigation also is accusing Floridians Protecting Freedom of hiring a California company to illegally collect some of these signatures. Now, as you mentioned, this is a preliminary investigation. State prosecutors, though, have not made any accusations in court. There is a group that's against the abortion amendment that has used this preliminary

investigation in a civil lawsuit. What does that suit argue and call for? Yeah, so that suit, former Supreme Court Justice, Florida Supreme Court Justice Allen Lawsuit, filed this on behalf of four Florida women who oppose abortion. And it really does rely heavily on that report and accuses Floridians protecting freedom of fraud and says the group didn't get the required number of signatures to place Amendment 4 on the ballot. And now the three counties looked at in that report, even if that 16 percent average is accurate, that wouldn't be enough to justify their claim. But what they're arguing is that if you apply that rate to other counties statewide, then the group would have fallen short on signatures. So, you know, Floridians

protecting freedom is the primary target, but they've also named the Florida Secretary of State and 21 supervisors of elections in the suit so that the court can investigate. And the plaintiffs here have asked that the vote, if the votes are counted, to be declared null and void. Right. They know that this probably won't go anywhere before a court before November 5th, before the election. They don't care. They're seeking to invalidate this after the fact so that if it passed, they could potentially still block the amendment from taking effect. Let's talk about another case here. We've got the federal judge in Tallahassee ordering the state to stop threatening television stations for broadcasting a pro-abortion amendment ad. This is the case of the Agency for Healthcare Administration sending that letter warning stations they could be criminally prosecuted.

Tell us a little bit more about this ruling and where the case stands. Yeah, so that was a temporary restraining order the judge issued that's blocking the state from making any more threats until at least next week when there's another hearing scheduled. You did a great job setting up the context, playing clips of this ad in question, featuring the Tampa woman named Caroline that Floridians Protecting Freedom has been running. And so it all comes down to whether the state is taking issue with what they're arguing in this ad. You know, Caroline is sharing her story of getting an abortion when she was pregnant with her second child

after she was diagnosed with cancer so that she could start radiation treatment. This was before any bans went into effect, but she says in the ad that she wouldn't be able to get the same care under Florida law today. And so what the health department is arguing is that this is false information, that the six-week ban does include exceptions to protect the life of the mother. And so that's kind of what happened where they were challenging that, saying this was false information. Florida Inspecting Protecting Freedom said, we're making political speech and by threatening TV stations, you're censoring that. And the judge who issued this order said this, you know, sided with them, literally wrote, it's the First Amendment stupid and said, you know, that the state was absolutely, you know, in the wrong to

be challenging First Amendment rights of free speech. That's what happened now. Now we're looking forward to this hearing on Tuesday. The state is pushing back on this. They've already had attorneys file a document, again, accusing the group of intentionally spreading false factual information about life-saving medical services. That's what they're arguing is that this is a health issue by making these statements. In the meantime, the lawyer who wrote that original threat has quit his job at the state agency and has given a sworn deposition saying that the draft of the warning letter was drafted by lawyers in the executive branch in essentially the governor's branch of the government of the state of Florida. Robert has been listening into this conversation. Stephanie, from Boca Raton. Go ahead, Robert. You're on the radio.

Yeah, this has all only made it more determined for me to vote for the amendment. It just seems like it's made it easier to point out the Santa's corruption with all this stuff he's doing against it. So kind of having the opposite effect in terms of the governor trying to utilize some of the state in his own bully pulpit here. Thanks for the conversation, Robert. Let's hear from Sarasota on line two. Susan has been listening in. Go ahead, Susan. You're on the radio. Politicians in particular who are supposed to represent me and be on my side, not fight against me and bully me to stay out of my house, to stay out of my bedroom and to stay out of my health care decision, whether or not that includes an abortion or a tubal ligation or a vasectomy. So I am voting for the amendment. I appreciate you lending your voice to the

conversation from Sarasota, Susan. Stephanie Colombini, a reporter with our partner station, WUSF in Tampa, still with us. I also, Stephanie, want to ask you about the state health agency and its website that it published several weeks ago and had some video ads running on social media against the abortion amendment. Amendment supporters filed their own lawsuit in this case against the website asking for it to be taken down. But a state judge in this case said no, and it still is public. Tell us a little more. Yeah, the website in question says things like current Florida law protects women. Amendment four threatens women's safety.

It says don't let the fear mongers lie to you. Amendment 4 threatens women's safety. It says don't let the fear mongers lie to you. You know, a lot of information that is blatantly, you know, encouraging voters to oppose Amendment 4. And so supporters challenged that and said that the state was using public money and public resources to sway voters to influence the election, which, you know, is not supposed to happen. But the judge did not side with them in this case. And the judge said that courts must trust the people to decide what information is important to them. And so he did not block the state from keeping this website up. He did say in his ruling, you know, what I have to say has no, you know, standing on the merits of this amendment or what the state is arguing that I'm just saying that the, you know, the amendment supporters didn't have standing in this case and that it's got to be up to voters

to decide what information to listen to. Stephanie, any idea how much taxpayer money has been spent or promised in these state agencies in the opposition to the amendment? I don't have a clear number yet. You know, some small figures, we know the Department of Health last week signed a $200,000 contract with the law firm who is now fighting for them in the TV ad case. That's just a small snippet of this. We have had so many legal battles for months with the state trying to block the amendment from getting on the ballot. So there's a lot of money, taxpayer money involved in legal fees. Then you're talking about the taxpayer dollars spent to produce these anti-amendment for ads and the website that the state is running. And on top of that, you know, this week the governor has been active hosting, you know, campaign style rally events with doctors who oppose amendment for. All of those

involve money in terms of security, transportation, what you need to host those events. So a lot of taxpayer dollars, no matter where you stand on this amendment, your money is going towards the state's efforts to defeat it. Stephanie Colombini, health reporter at our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Stephanie, thanks for sharing your reporting. Thanks. Coming up, we will be fact-checking some of the claims about the amendment with our partner PolitiFact later on in this program. Right now, Charlie Wells is with us.

Charlie used to be the chief justice here in the Sunshine State with the state Supreme Court. Justice Wells, welcome back to the program. Nice to talk to you again. Thank you very much. This amendment question here in Florida is the result of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. And state lawmakers approved different abortion restrictions, which were challenged at the state.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. And state lawmakers approved different abortion restrictions, which were challenged at the state Supreme Court. And the state Supreme Court overturned what had been precedent here in Florida,

that abortion was protected by the Privacy Clause in the state constitution. So that leads us up to the vote that's happening right now. Let me ask you, Justice, do you think the question of abortion belongs directly with voters in a referendum as it is this fall or with legislators? Well, I think it probably has to go to a referendum because it's attracted so much attention. You know, we had this issue settled in Florida for Court, which was 15 years from 1994 through 2009, we never really dealt with the issue of abortion because the matter was settled. It was always determined that the Florida Constitution had a right to privacy, and that

included abortion. That dates back to opinions written by Justice Leander Shaw during the 1980s. So I think that my main comment is that this has been settled in Florida, and I think it should just remain so. Well, it'll be up to the voters, at least for this amendment now, Justice. How do you think the justice system is handling lawsuits so far over the state's agencies and their behavior toward this amendment? Well, I think the court system is handling it as the court system is intended to handle these types of decisions. It receives cases which are presented to it. Too many people confuse what the courts do to commissions. The courts are not commissions.

The courts are there to resolve existing disputes, and there are very strict rules as to what cases the court has jurisdiction to review and to determine. to determine. So I think that the court needs to stay within those bounds and not get into the going out and creating controversy on its own. In the case of the television ad where the state sent a threatening letter to TV stations that were airing a pro-abortion amendment advertisement. How does a judge weigh First Amendment rights and the claims that the state makes in this case that the ad is objectively false? Well, the court, different judges, of course, would handle the case different. But my attitude is that the issue before the court should be as narrow as it can be,

and that would be what the constitutional First Amendment requirement is and whether it's in violation of the First Amendment. And state lawyers have argued that the Constitution does not allow folks a right, in their words, to, quote, spread false information about the availability of life-saving medical services. In that kind of narrowing of the question before a court, how would a court approach such an argument there? Well, the court would hear witnesses on the question presented by both sides and then determine the specific issue before it. And I think that it's awfully important for everyone to recognize that the court is to decide issues presented to it. And that it's up to the parties and the lawyers to frame the issues, and then the court enters a decision.

One of the issues that's likely to come before many courts in the weeks ahead will be the election. You were chief justice of the state Supreme Court here in Florida during the 2000 presidential vote recount. Do you believe that the justice system is prepared for what may come after Election Day? Well, I think that it's as prepared as it can be at present. Of course, the 2000 election presented a unique problem because it narrowed the presidential election for the United States down to what happened in Florida. And the Florida vote was very tight. It was essentially a tie. Yeah, 537 votes, I believe, at the end.

That's correct. But the dispute itself lasted for some 32 days. Right, before the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and told Florida to stop counting. But what's your guidance as someone who has been steeped? You've sat on the bench with voting election cases. What's your advice to voters in advance of what's likely to be plenty of legal arguments, both in court as well as in the court of public opinion, about the vote? Well, I think my advice to voters is voters have got to participate in the election by

essentially, fundamentally voting. And if voters see any irregularities at their local polls, precincts, then they have to call that to people's attention because we've been very fortunate. What makes this system work is that people have trust that the election will be fairly run and fairly reported. And I think that it's essential that we keep that foremost in and be vigilant for anything that attempts to corrupt the system. Charlie, appreciate your thoughts and always a pleasure to speak with you. Charles Wells, former chief justice of the Florida State Supreme Court. Justice Wells, have a terrific day. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much.

We will be talking about some of the other amendments on your ballot a little bit later on in this program. Stick around. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week on this program, voting wraps up soon in this election, but the counting may take a bit and then the expected fight in the courts and the court of public opinion over the results. Will you accept the results if your presidential candidate loses? How will you approach those who voted differently than you? What little things will you do or not do to work toward a united United States? Email us radio at the Florida roundup.org radio at the Florida roundup.org.

We may share your thoughts next week. This week, polling places across the state opened up for early voting and vote by mail ballots keep rolling in. Already, almost 3 million people have voted here in the Sunshine State. We will hear from the top Republican Party official in Florida in a moment. First, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Jamie Harrison, began his week in Jacksonville. Jamie, thanks for your time today. Democrats have seen a small advantage in vote-by-mail ballots that have been turned in, but more than twice as many Republicans than Democrats voted early voting

on the first day of voting here in Florida. What do you make of the Democratic turnout in the early going here? Well, you know, we keep knocking on doors, keep making phone calls, get people to the polls. I believe that you'll see the Democratic number and the Republican number go back and forth in these early voting days. But that wildcard is the MPAs that we have here in Florida. Who are they voting for? I think those folks are tired, sick and tired of the extremism that they've seen from Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott and Donald Trump. And I believe that they will break and they will break for our Democratic candidates this cycle. What are the get out the vote efforts that the Democratic National Committee is undertaking here in Florida targeting specifically those

independent NPA voters? Well, we have 150,000 volunteers that are on the ready, 20 offices across the state. And so we're putting in calls not only to Democrats to make sure they come and they turn out, but we're also reaching out to some of those folks who have voted in Democratic primaries in the past and with records of supporting Democrats to talk about the issues that are important. supporting Democrats to talk about the issues that are important. I believe that, you know, this issue of cannabis that is on the ballot, Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 in terms of the reproductive freedom of women, I think those things are both going to pass overwhelmingly. And I think those folks who will vote for those measures will vote for the elected officials who actually believe in those policies. And I'm sure that's something that scares Ron DeSantis so much that we saw

that he took the unprecedented step of utilizing state government money to fight back against these efforts, but also to even try to intimidate some of the television stations in terms of airing ads. As you are trying to contact those NPA voters, it sounds like, Jamie, you're targeting those that perhaps have shown a record in the past of voting Democratic. Is that right? Are you not targeting those that have shown the past voting Republican? Well, listen, we believe that there'll be some of those folks who will also swing over, too, only about 1% of the spending four years ago, compared to four years ago before this week. How might that impact turnout among Democratic registered voters as well as those NPAs? It's not all about TV. It's about boots on the ground.

It's about having folks to be able to knock on the doors, to make the phone calls, to send the text messages. That's really, really important. And what we have seen is probably one of the largest operations that we've had here in Florida in a long, long time. And so I'm proud of that. I'm proud that the DNC was able to send some extra resources in order to support the Florida Democratic Party in that effort. You know, I've been here now, I believe, four or five times over the course of the last six or seven months, two weeks left in a presidential election. And the chair of the DNC is kicking off our bus tour in Florida. It means that we have seen something that is worth fighting for, something that is valuable. And so I've been here and will

continue to provide as much support as I can to the party, but also Debbie Mooker-Stale-Powell, who's really run one heck of a race for the U.S. Senate. She is the Democratic challenger for incumbent Republican Senator Rick Scott. What are you seeing? What are the Democrats seeing here in Florida? A month ago, when you visited the state, you said that Florida is in play. Polling, at least to the top of the ticket, says otherwise, Jamie. A University of North Florida poll out this week has former President Trump up by 10 points over the vice president, Harris. Do you still think Florida is in play at the presidential level? We know that Florida is definitely in play in terms of the U.S. Senate level. Many times in presidential elections, we only focus on the president. But we know that when democracy is on the ballot, that's not just about the White House. It's not just about Congress.

It's also about the statehouse as well. And we believe that with this U.S. Senate race, we believe with some of the statehouse races as well. Some of those races are within the margin of error. And it really becomes a turnout game, how you get your voters to the polls. We have Doug Amoff, the current second gentleman, soon to be first gentleman, who's back in Florida. We've got Nancy Pelosi, who was just here. And so there are a number of us who understand the importance of Florida and making sure that we're trying to turn it up. You mentioned the statehouse here in Florida, which is a supermajority Republican and has been for a number of cycles. The state party here in Florida has its Take Back Florida program targeting 16 statehouse races of 120 seats and one out of 40 state Senate race. Do you consider

that competitive? Never say never around me around me i mean i believe that if you have a good candidate you get some resources behind them uh and that candidate has a great message we can win and we can flip anything i'm so excited the fact that we have a democrat running every state house state senate uh and congressional race and the one thing thing that I know is you can't win unless you run somebody. And you got to make sure that you have good candidates. They have a great message and that you continue to invest in them moving forward. And that's what we've been doing here in Florida. I believe Florida is going to surprise a lot of folks on election day. Jamie Harrison is the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Jamie, thanks so much. Thanks so much for having me. Take care now. From blue to red now, Evan Power is the chair of the Republican Party of Florida. Chair Power, welcome back to Florida Public Radio. Nice to have you again. Thanks for having me back on. Twice as many Republicans than Democrats have voted early since Monday when early voting began in most of the state. Republicans than Democrats have voted early since Monday when early voting began in most of the state. Former President Trump has been a critic of early voting, at least prior to this election cycle, but he's endorsed it here. What get out the vote tactics are Republicans using effectively?

I mean, this has been a long process for us. You can't start get out the vote two or three weeks ahead of time like the Democrats are. We've been working on this program. We narrowed the Democratic advantage on vote by mail from 14 to 7. And then now we're turning out our voters early. And you're seeing the results, which is we're up 9.5% in turnout. We're going to have some big wins here in Florida. What tactics specifically are Republicans in Florida using to target the 3.6 million NPA voters? using to target the 3.6 million NPA voters? Well, the policies of Donald Trump when he was president for four years compared to the failure of four years of Harris-Biden makes that pitch

very easy. Those people are turning out. They're going to vote for change. And that change is for Donald Trump and to bring us back to the prosperity that we had under four years of President Donald Trump. But are you specifically having calling centers, neighborhood canvassing to target those independent voters specifically? We're talking to all voters. We're even talking to soft Democrats because we're finding success talking to them about how their life was better four years ago under President Trump.

So we're talking to all voters. We're turning them out. And I think what you're going to see is a very large win for Republicans. And you're going to see us win up and down the ballot because we have the policies that Floridians care about from the economy to immigration and to the success that we had on foreign policy. Evan, I think I know what you mean when you talk about a soft Democrat. But what does that mean here, given that there's no circle to fill in for soft Democrat on a voter registration form here in Florida? You're looking at Democrats who don't vote in primaries, so they're not invested in the party system. They only turn out for general elections, sometimes just for presidential elections.

And you're seeing those people understand that their life was better. They're working class people understand their life was better under Donald Trump's policies economically. There's a lot less political ad spending in Florida this election cycle. How might that impact turnout that Republicans are hoping for? of motivating our voters, getting them ready, and getting them performing. And that's how you get to a 9.5% advantage in partisan turnout, is that ground game that we've worked on over a whole year. Television and digital ad spending here for candidates is way down from previous elections. How does this affect that messaging, especially as voting is underway,

and the weeks or months-long effort to get out the vote? Well, you know, TV I think is going to come down over time. Not everyone watches TV. You have obviously the digital and all the things that go into that. But we're targeting people in their mailboxes. We're targeting them with people who are walking to their door, who've built relationships with them. We're having conversations with Florida voters. And, you know, it was interesting to hear Jamie Harrison talk about how Floridians are fed up with whatever he wanted to say. The fact is Floridians are happy with what they're getting in Florida. That's why people are coming to Florida for that success. And it's an easy conversation to tell people we need to keep Florida winning. We need to keep people voting

Republican because they like what they see because Florida leads the way and it should be the way that the rest of the country's run. Republicans do outnumber Democrats and registered voters here, as you mentioned, and I mentioned as well, you've seen twice the turnout in early voting for Republican registered voters than Democratic registered voters. How is your party, Evan, targeting Republican voters, registered Republican voters who may split their ticket when it comes to the abortion and recreational marijuana amendments? You know, our most important thing is turning them out and having them vote, but we're targeting them with messaging. When you actually look at what those

two amendments do, it is dark, out-of-state money coming in trying to change the electoral landscape or to turn it into California. And it's done in a way that is, what is on that ballot is not actually how those amendments are interpreted because they've left out definitions. They've confused people. So we're telling people the truth. And what you find out is when you tell people the truth about Amendment 3 and 4, those numbers start coming down. And I think we're going to be able to chip away and win those two ballot initiatives. Evan, three well-known Republicans who held high-level positions here in the state came out this week in support of the Vice President Kamala Harris, General Bob Milligan, Jim Smith and Mac Stepanovich.

You called them radicals for their choice for president to vote for the vice president Harris. Why? Yes, because they have been radicalized leftists now because of their hatred of one person, which is President Trump. They've thrown in with the radical left. And so you're not a conservative if you're voting for the most left senator to sit in the Senate at the time and the most left presidential candidate we've seen in modern history. You're not a conservative. You're

not a Republican. And they're in their search for woke heaven or whatever they need to find comfort in. But they're not representing the Republican Party and they haven't since 2016. They're the same people who fought Donald Trump in 2016. Evan Power is the chair of the Republican Party of Florida. Evan, thanks for your time. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you. I'm Tom Hudson. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Voting is underway here in the Sunshine State, and we've been examining claims each week with our news partner, PolitiFact. If you have a claim you want us to check out, you can email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Sam Putterman is a reporter with this news partner that we have, PolitiFact. Sam, great to have you

back. Hi, thanks for having me. It's all about the amendments on our program today. Governor DeSantis making several public appearances as he works to get voters to reject the abortion amendment. He appeared with doctors on Monday in South Florida. And among his claims was that the abortion amendment does not define the terms that appear in it, unlike he claims other amendments. This amendment doesn't define any of the terms that are actually in the amendment. That's not true for most amendments that have been added to Florida's constitution. Sam, is it true that most state amendments define terms? Yeah, so definitions aren't required in state amendments, and many of Florida's constitutional amendments don't include definitions. For instance, five of Florida's six ballot measures in 2024, including Amendment 4,

don't have definitions. And what about that claim that without definitions, key terms, don't have definitions. And what about that claim that without definitions, key terms, the meaning can be vague or as some critics say, could mean almost anything? Yeah, legal experts were pretty skeptical of that. They said that most laws have no built-in definitions and words like abortion and healthcare provider and so on have understood meanings and ordinary usage and aren't infinitely flexible. If it passes, terms like viability and patient's health may need clarifying, but any perceived ambiguity would likely leave courts with the finals. One of the terms that opponents have seized on in this amendment language is health care provider. Here's what the governor said this week.

It would mean you could have six months into pregnancy for no reason whatsoever, in terms of medical or health or anything involving the mother that you could go in and have a purely elective abortion. So that was the governor's claim regarding how long a pregnant woman would be able to have access to abortion under the amendment. The governor says the amendment would allow abortions, as he said, they're up to six months. Is this true? No.

So the amendment doesn't mandate abortions to be provided up to birth for any reason. You know, it would overturn the state six week ban and allow abortions up to fetal viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health. Providers place viability around 24 weeks of pregnancy. But more than 90 percent of abortions happen in the first trimester. Less than one percent are performed after 21 weeks. And typically they involve an emergency or a fatal fetal anomaly. And since 2020, you know, Florida has recorded only three third trimester abortions, and all were because of serious or fatal fetal abnormalities. The governor also made this claim Monday in South Florida regarding the amendment.

What they say is you need to be simply a health care provider. Well, what is that? They don't tell you what that is, but I can tell you if this were to pass, you would have clinics open up without physicians involved. So here, Sam, the claim that that phrase health care provider is undefined in the amendment. What's the fact check here? So first, practicing medicine, you know, unlicensed, as he kind of suggests, is illegal. Although the amendment doesn't define healthcare provider, you know, experts told us it wouldn't allow people who aren't licensed to determine whether a patient qualifies for a health risk exception or to provide an abortion. You know, Florida statutes define the term in different ways

and the health department would determine the definition and the state court system may also weigh in if the amendment faced legal challenges. But it's really important to note that Florida doctors are regulated by the state's board of medicine and must follow medical ethics and standards of practice or they risk losing their license. So just a very unlikely scenario. Yeah. Florida requires parental consent before a minor child gets an abortion. That's in the Constitution now. Opponents, like the governor, say this proposed amendment that's on the ballot for voters would throw that out. If Amendment 4 is adopted, it would eliminate Florida's parents' rights for parental consent for minors and abortion. Now, he says that parents would still be told of an abortion, but they

would not have to give their permission under this amendment. So what they're doing in the amendment is substituting notification, but that is not consent notification. Be they send a post card to the parent or do something, but the parent would be stripped of the substantive right to parent with respect to this one issue. Sam, sort this out for us. Yeah, so the amendment itself doesn't spell the immediate end of parental consent for abortions, but critics warn, as he said, that it's language against anything that prohibits, delays or restricts abortion could challenge that 2020 parental consent law. But what happens to the

law is likely left up to the courts. Experts said it has to be challenged. Experts said it's very possible, you know, the Florida Supreme Court, given its conservative bent, would uphold the existing law. But it is not an immediate end, as has been suggested. Politifacting each week here on the Florida Roundup with Sam Putterman. Sam, always great to have you. Thanks for sharing all your reporting with us. Thanks so much. Amendment has gotten most of the attention among the half dozen proposed changes to the state constitution that are on the ballot this fall. So let's get you caught up on three of the others. After the abortion amendment, Amendment 3 has gotten a lot of attention too. This is the one that asks voters to allow recreational marijuana for anyone at least 21 years old. Now tens of thousands of Floridians already can legally use marijuana. The medical

marijuana program here is the largest in the country and it includes more than 100,000 seniors using marijuana to treat pain, anxiety, or helping them sleep. If recreational use marijuana becomes legal here in Florida, it would shake up the current highly regulated medical marijuana system. Central Florida public media reporter Joe Burns takes a look at what passing the amendment might mean for Floridians with a medical marijuana card. Tom Unrath is a retired Air Force chaplain and Lutheran pastor living with multiple sclerosis. It causes significant pain, but a cannabis chew he takes at night helps with that. It's not so much a fun thing, but it's a helpful thing. It helps me

to feel better and thus have a better quality of life. Unrest's wife, Anita, is a retired school teacher. She uses a cannabis cream for arthritic knees, plus the soft chew in things like capsules and lozenges. They won't make you high because they have the CBD and the THC in them. So at 69, we are not at all interested in getting high. CBD and THC are two of the compounds in marijuana that THC makes you high. The unrest support Amendment 3. They also say the medical program is worth saving, that people with serious conditions will need advice on drug interactions. But they aren't sure they'll keep the card themselves. It could depend on how the legislature implements Amendment 3 if it passes. For instance,

will a steep tax on recreational weed create a financial incentive to keep the medical card so they can get their marijuana tax-free? And will they need the medical program to get the products they use? As far as whether or not we'll keep paying the $400 a year for the doctor's appointments and the cards, I don't really know. We'll have to see how it works out. That's $400 apiece. Erin Bloom runs DocMJ,

a medical marijuana practice with offices throughout Florida. DocMJ surveyed patients about the amendment. 74% were in favor of it, 10% were opposed, and the rest were unsure. Their top concern is continued access at affordable prices to the products that give them relief. The legislature needs to put guardrails around the medical program so that the licensees do not forget and do not fail to provide the medicine that the Florida patients need. At Cure Relief, which operates 66 dispensaries in Florida,

Kareem Bouaziz says they're preparing to meet the soaring demand and lessen the upward pressure on prices. I think a lot of groups will take the more short-sighted approach and they will chase the higher margin, higher volume products. But Bouaziz says Cureleaf has no plan to drop the products like topicals and tinctures that medical customers want. Joe Burns, Central Florida Public Media. Amendment 5 has a direct connection to your pocketbook if you pay property taxes.

Now this proposal would adjust one of Florida's homestead exemptions, linking it to the rate of inflation instead of just having it flat. Central Florida Public Media's housing and homelessness reporter Lillian Hernandez-Carabajo reports. It's a late Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, and Mike Hardiman is sitting on his front porch just off O'Galley Boulevard. It's hot and humid out, but the clinking of his American flag against a flagpole signals a light breeze. Hardiman tells me he and his wife have lived in this house for about 25 years, and recently they felt the pressure of increasing costs. Well, I told my wife, I said, we're going to have to leave. I said, taxes are going to get so expensive here that we're not going to be able to live here. Brevard County online records dating back to 2005 show that Hardeman's property taxes

are the highest they've been in 10 years. It's crazy the amount of money that you have to be making just to get by because the prices are so much, let alone taxes. Property taxes that municipalities need to help fund basic public services like road maintenance, water management, and first responders. But in Florida, people who live in the homes they own get two tax breaks called homestead exemptions. The first one is a $25,000 exemption on the taxes that help pay for schools. The second is an additional $25,000 exemption, but this one doesn't impact schools. Together, these make for a $50,000 discount off the assessed value of your home. But if passed, Amendment 5 could allow for a larger tax break by tying the second exemption to annual inflation.

University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett explains. If you vote yes on this and it passes, scientist Aubrey Jewett explains. If you vote yes on this and it passes, it potentially is going to mean that homeowners pay slightly less in property taxes each year because the value of the homestead exemption will go up as inflation goes up. And a no vote just means that second $25,000 is going to stay $25,000 no matter what inflation does in the future. So you'll still have an exemption. It just won't be worth as much over time. Jewett says other amendments have stolen the spotlight, so voters might not yet fully grasp or even know about Amendment 5. It's not as like sexy or whatever as abortion rights and recreational marijuana, but it could impact the fairness of

the tax system. It could impact the ability of some property owners to keep their home. It could impact the fairness of the tax system. It could impact the ability of some property owners to keep their home. It could impact city and county services. Back on Hardeman's front porch, he admits he still needs to do a lot of research before deciding which way to go on this amendment. We should know a lot more of what we are actually voting for because I don't want to commit to something that I don't know nothing about. In Brevard County, I'm Lillian Hernandez Caravaggio. Lillian is a Report for America Corps member. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your

Florida Public Radio station. This weekend is a deer hunting weekend in most of Florida for kids 15 and younger. On the water, flounder season just closed last week. Stone crab season just opened. And this election season, voters will decide whether hunting and fishing belong in the state constitution. Amendment 2 would enshrine, quote, the taking of fish and wildlife as a right. Tom Bayless covers the environment for our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. Tom, thanks for sharing your reporting. In plain terms, what would this amendment mean for hunting and fishing here in Florida? Well, Florida Amendment 2, it would elevate hunting and fishing from a statutory right to a constitutional right. And this means

these activities would have stronger legal protection against potential future restrictions or limitations. In other words, it would make it more difficult for future legislation to curtail hunting and fishing rights. There's a couple of phrases in the proposed amendment language that opponents have focused their criticism on. The first is that hunting and fishing includes, quote, the use of traditional methods. What does that mean? use of traditional methods. What does that mean? You know, the phrase use of traditional methods, it's not clearly defined in the amendment, which has led to one of the two or three main debates over the amendment because supporters say, hey, it refers to currently legal hunting and fishing practices, whatever the laws are right now.

But the way it's worded, if you want to look at it a different way, like a critic might, they worry it would be interpreted more broadly to allow for outdated and controversial techniques, say gill nets, or some of these things that have proven to be really detrimental to bycatch and other things because those are quote-unquote traditional because they didn't use legal if they had used legal practices at this time that would probably gotten rid of that controversy over that one bycatch is when in fishing for instance you're catching other species than the ones you're actually trying to catch right? Yes and and they don't normally take any

time and effort to separate those and get them back in the water before they die so it's it's a really damaging environmental way to catch a few of the right fish, killing a lot of other things. The second phrase in this ballot measure that raises questions is that hunting and fishing are, quote, preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife. So what would be the implications for land management in Florida if this passes? So what would be the implications for land management in Florida if this passes? You know, that language could prioritize hunting and fishing over other wildlife management strategies. It might limit the state's flexibility in adopting other conservation approaches or non-lethal wildlife management techniques. lethal wildlife management techniques. It could potentially impact how public lands are managed with a greater emphasis on maintaining areas for hunting and fishing. In short,

hunting and fishing could bully out all of the other activities if you want to read it a certain way. If this goes into the state constitution, Tom, would hunters and fishermen still need to be licensed by the state since this would be a constitutional right? Yes. Tom, thanks for sharing your reporting and walking us through this amendment. Much appreciated. Absolutely. Happy to do it. Tom Bayless is an environment reporter with our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. Now, any constitutional amendment needs 60% support in Florida for it to pass.

amendment needs 60% support in Florida for it to pass. Finally on the roundup this week, free rent, a free x-ray machine, a free ultrasound machine. You have to bring your own stethoscope though. This is the offer in Havana, Florida. It's a small town about 30 minutes northwest of Tallahassee. You see the town is looking for a new family practice doctor. After more than 30 years as Havana's only primary care physician, Dr. Mark Newberry is hanging up his medical coat. So now Havana Mayor Eddie Bass is searching for someone to provide care for about 2,000 patients. Most of them are older. He did house calls for people, but he wound up stopping that and just, you know, office. But that was the only service we had for our people unless they went to Quincy to hospital there, Tallahassee. Dr. Newberry started his practice in Havana back in 1993. He told me there was no doctor in the

community at the time and the building he's in now was empty. He worked with the city to get grant money for the city to get grant money for the city to buy that medical equipment I mentioned earlier. Now, as he approaches retiring at the end of the year, he said he'll do some reading, probably go fishing, work on some woodworking in his retirement months

because in a few months, he added, maybe he'll go back to work. And that's it for our program today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Grayson Docter and Bridget O'Brien. Bridget also answered our phones today. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Mertz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Hart. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com.

If you missed any of today's program, you can download it and share it by looking for the podcast. Just search the Florida Roundup on the NPR app. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public radio here in Florida. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.